The voices of tenure-track faculty: Their transitional experiences.
Amber D. Evans, Inga S. Adams, Brent D. Holt, Jeffrey A. Richmond, Nicklaus R. Spruill
Educational Research and Evaluation, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Virginia 24060
Participants & Selection
Introduction
Methodology
The tenure debate is ongoing about the benefits of
permanent jobs for faculty in higher education. The
discussion centers on whether to abolish, revamp, or leave
tenure as is.
The researchers investigated preparation in regards to
politics and culture, day-to-day responsibilities, supportive
relationships, unanticipated aspects of the tenure process,
and the overall tenure experience.
What is newly-hired
faculty‟s experience and
reconstruction of their
preparation before tenure?
What is newly-hired faculty‟s
experience of their value of
supportive relationships during
the tenure process?
Departmental climate, resources, teaching, scholarship,
and service play a factor in whether a professor will earn
tenure. The process is subjective and can be influenced by
internal factors within the department such as a
relationship with colleagues, department heads, and deans.
External factors such as participation in national and
professional organizations, relationships with colleagues
outside the department, and outside funding can also be
influences.
Research Questions
The purpose of this study was to explore and document
the experiences of newly-hired professors during their pretenured years at a research one institution.
What is newly-hired faculty‟s
experience and reconstruction of
their day-to-day responsibilities
of a higher educational position?
Literature Review
What is newly-hired
faculty‟s experience and
reconstruction of the overall
tenure-track experience?
Research Design
Teaching
Socialization
Tenure
Service
Figure 1. Centering around the topic of tenure, the
literature revealed five categories that play
significant roles in the tenure-process.
Literature cited
Aguirre, A, Jr. (2000). Women and minority faculty in the academic
workplace. ASHE-ERIC Higher Education Report, 6. San Francisco: Jossey Bass.
American Association of University Professors. (1997). Defending tenure: A guide for
friends of academic freedom. Washington D.C.: AAUP-American Psychological
Association Committee on Women in Psychology.
Astin, H. S., Antonio, A. L., Cress, C. M., & Astin, A. W. (1997). Race and ethnicity in
the American professoriate, 1995-96. Higher Education Research Institute,
Graduate School of Education & Information Studies. Los Angeles: University of
California, Los Angeles (UCLA).
Atkinson, R., & Flint, J. (2001). Accessing hidden and hard-to-reach populations:
Snowball research strategies. Social Research Update [On-line], 33. Available at:
http://www.soc.surrey.ac.uk/sru/SRU33.html
Snowball sampling was used to identify potential
participants which is defined by Atkinson and Flint (2001)
as “identifying respondents who are then used to refer
researchers on to other respondents.”
All six (6) participants held doctoral degrees and were
fulltime faculty members employed from less-than-one
year to four-years. They worked in diverse academic
disciplines, including Public Administration, Education,
Engineering, and Humanities.
Limitations
Six (6) limitations were identified:
1. Time (limited the number and length of
interviews).
2. Self-reported responses.
3. Six (6) different researchers involved.
4. Participant memory recollection.
5. Snowball sampling “may mean that „isolates‟ are
ignored” (Atkinson & Flint, 2001).
Findings
“Positive”
Tenure process is motivating and enjoyable.
Teaching is the most enjoyable aspect.
Perception of professoriate role benefiting
others (roles in service and advising).
It was the objective of this qualitative study to obtain rich,
meaningful information based on the participant
perceptions through the participant‟s own description of
the tenure process.
Research
Policies
What is newly-hired faculty‟s
experience of unanticipated
aspects of the process of
professoriate position?
All participants were tenure-track faculty in years prior to
being granted tenure.
A qualitative, phenomenological methodology was chosen
because it was well-suited for encouraging faculty to
pontificate upon their experiences, and to explore their
perceptions of the tenure process. Stories shared by six (6)
faculty were elicited through one (1) audio-recorded
personal interview of 45-minutes. The tapes were
converted to manuscript and the authenticity of the
transcripts was verified by the researchers who listened to
random selections. An open-ended, semi-structured
interview protocol administered face-to-face on the
campus of a research one institution permitted the
researchers to discern nuances in both the verbal and nonverbal responses of study participants.
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Buchanan, R. (1974). Building organizational commitment: The socialization of
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Burgess, N. J. (1997). Tenure and promotion among African-American
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attitudes of three faculty generations. Research in Higher Education, 20(2), 131153.
Feldman, D. C. (1981). The multiple socialization of organization members. Academy of
Management Review, 6(2), 309-318.
Johnsrud, L. K. and Des Jarlais, C. D. (1994). Barriers to tenure for women and
minorities. The Review of Higher Education, 17(4), 335-353.
Johnsrud, L. K. & Sadao, K. (1998). The common experience of “otherness:” Ethnic and
racial minority faculty. The Review of Higher Education, 21(4), 315-342.
Locke, L. F., Spirduso, W. W. & Silverman, S. J. (1987). Proposals that work.(2nd
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Miles, M.B., & Huberman, A.M. (1984). Qualitative Data Analysis, 16. Newbury Park,
CA: Sage
“Negative”
Tenure process is overwhelming and
unpleasant.
Discovery of a caste-system.
Politics, competition, and manipulation.
Worth Noting
Personal characteristics (discipline, tolerance,
preparedness) made the transition easier.
Mentors and peer support were oft-mentioned.
Reichers, A. E. (1987). An interactionist perspective on newcomer socialization rates.
Academy of Management Review 12, 278–287.
Tierney, W. G., & Rhoads, R. A. (1993). Faculty socialization as cultural process: A
mirror of institutional commitment. ASHE-ERIC Higher Education Report, 93-6.
Washington, DC: George Washington University.
Tierney, W. G., & Rhoads, R. (1994). Enhancing promotion, tenure, and beyond: Faculty
socialization as a cultural process. Washington, DC: George Washington
University.
Tierney, W. G., & Bensimon, E. M. (1996). Promotion and tenure: Community and
socialization in academe. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press.
Van Maanen, J. (1975). Police socialization: A longitudinal examination of job attitudes
in an urban police department. Administrative Science Quarterly, 20, 207-228.
Van Maanen, J. (1976). Breaking in: Socialization to work. In R. Dubin (Ed.), Handbook
of Work, Organization, and Society (pp. 67-130). Chicago: Rand McNally.
Van Maanen, J., & Schein, E. H. (1979). Toward a theory of organizational socialization.
Research in Organizational Behavior, 1, 209-264.
Discussion & Conclusions
Four (4) themes emerged:
“You have to
1. Demands and Expectations
be good at
Research = top priority. Publishing,
all of them,
service, and teaching follow as listed. but excellent
2. Barriers
in one.”
Caste-system, sabotage, hostile work
environments, political agendas, time, race/gender, and
undefined tenure requirements.
3. Support
Mentors, peers, family, friends, and early socialization.
4. Attitudes (Motivation / Volition)
“… I hope they
Willingness to adapt to change
like me … I
eased the transition. Freedom to
don’t really
choose when/how/what/where to
know what I
work. Self-aware and selfneed to do to
doubting.
get tenure.”
Implications
The tenure process is fraught with wide-ranging demands,
expectations, and unwritten rules in a social-political
quagmire. These are intensified for junior faculty whose
departments have unstructured or limited support systems
(e.g., mentoring) in place.
However, none of the participants would rather be doing
anything else. The flexibility and freedom to pursue
individual and group projects, research, and teaching is
reward and motivation enough to currently sustain them.
This would indicate less of a need to abolish or leave
tenure as it is, but a need to revamp tenure. If tenure was
revamped using our findings to ease the transitional
process, departments should create social networks,
mentorship programs, and professional development
opportunities within the first few years of being tenuretrack. It is highly recommended that clear, detailed
ascension-to-tenure documents be developed within each
department to help junior faculty achieve success.
“In truth, I probably have just as many things on my plate
right now, but they’re fun. It’s just different, instead of
somebody forcing me to do it, I’m doing it because I want to
and that makes all the difference.
Acknowledgments
We thank Dr. Penny Burge and Dr. Julie Drewry for all of the
qualitative research advice, discussions, and feedback.
For further information
Please contact adevans@vt.edu or isadams@vt.edu. More information
on this and related projects, see amsdianeportfolio.blogspot.com.